We've Been Preparing For 'Social Distancing' For A Long Time Now .....
If you think about it – we’ve been preparing for ‘social distancing’ for a long time now and the transition to having to ‘social distance’ shouldn’t be such an issue or problem to adapt to.
One could think that the start of ‘social distancing’ began with the advent of the ‘internet’. The ‘internet’ opened up the whole world to us and allowed us to interact with the whole world from our kitchen table.
The ability to virtually contact and communicate with anyone through ‘e-mail’ took us a little further down the path of ‘social distancing’ which gave rise to such programs as ‘Facebook’; ‘Twitter’ and a multitude of other social networking internet programs.
Now people lay out their whole lives on ‘Facebook’ complete with daily schedules, pics of daily activities and even pictures of the food that they’ve eaten at a restaurant or prepared in the home. They don’t even call each other to talk. They simply go to their facebook page to see what others are up to and keep others informed of what they’re doing.
We even have a president that relies on Twitter as almost his only method to communicate with the American People. Just another ‘social distancing’ technique so one doesn’t have to face the public in person and risk being verbally challenged. It allows for time to come up with a good response or an excuse and not being put on the spot.
Now let’s explore other ways we’ve come down the path to ‘social distancing’:
a. The fast food drive-thru; no face-to-face contact with a waiter/waitress
b. The bank drive-thru; no face-to-face contact with a bank teller
c. Self-service gas stations; pump your own gas
d. Self-service check-out counters at stores
e. Grocery delivery to your home
f. The rise of restaurant delivery services to your doorstep
g. Malls and shops closing because of Amazon; Prime; etc – in fact such services are changing the way we shop; one doesn’t even have to leave their house anymore; your shopping needs come to you at your doorstep
h. Curbside pick-up of your phoned in orders at big box stores
i. Pay bills over the phone; on-line
j. Don’t even have to go to the movies anymore; just use Redbox or any of the streaming services to watch movies in your home.
k. Pay for view; don’t have to go to sporting events anymore; view in the privacy of your own home; better seats, views and food; with the added luxury of re-plays
l. Skype and now Zoom – so we can now see and talk to others while not leaving one’s home or having to visit with others in person
m. Highway electronic tolls instead of toll booths
n. On-line dating programs: Finding a date or a mate over the Internet or you mobile phone
o. Exercise equipment for your home; for example ‘Peloton’ ; no need to go to a gym to work out anymore; can work-out in the privacy of your home
These are just some of the obvious examples of how we’ve divorced ourselves from personal contact with others and how we’ve actually been practicing ‘social distancing’ for some time now. I’m sure I’ve even left out other examples that you can come up with that take us out of close contact with people and foster ‘social distancing’.
We’ve been told that a lot of these examples were created out of 'economic and time management'
needs – but I wonder if someone out there was actually preparing society for – maybe - a ‘pandemic’ crisis like we’re facing now. Perhaps these things were created so that we could cope with this crisis we’re embroiled in at the moment.
My point is, however, that ‘social distancing’ is not new because of this crisis and we’re actually more prepared to deal with ‘social distancing’ because we’ve actually been subliminally living with it for far more time than we realize.
Yes -this coronavirus crisis has forced us to realize that we’ve actually been ‘social distancing’ for some time now.
I believe that it’s in our human instinct to protect ourselves and right now our creative juices will be flowing that will foster even other 'social distancing' products and services that presently we can’t even imagine. Don’t underestimate ‘American ‘ingenuity’ or ‘entrepreneurship’.
So – bottom line - don’t be despondent of our present predicament. It’s not as bad as maybe we’re making it seem. If we just stop and think for a moment – we’ve actually been coping with ‘social distancing’ for some time now. We even welcomed it into our daily lives with open arms.
It’s just that now we have some time on our hands by these ‘stay at home’ orders that we can ponder the effects and maybe be thankful for its benefits.
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I remember there was an episode of the X-Files revival where they showed the importance of having human operators after machines went berserk. I don't want to live in a world where I have to do literally everything in front of a computer screen,. I am just going crazy right now and I can't do this another 3 months. Or worse, the rest of my life. 
